HC stays recruitment notification of NPCIL

PIL plea wants employment for locals

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday granted an interim injunction against a notification issued by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for the recruitment of cadres under ‘C’ and ‘D’ categories.

A Division Bench of Justices C.T.Selvam and A.M.Basheer Ahamed stayed the notification issued in April 2018 and directed private notice to NPCIL and the Director of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP).

The case has been adjourned to two weeks.

The petitioner, M. Appavu, a former MLA, in his public interest litigation petition said that right from the establishment of the plant, demands were made to provide employment opportunities to the land donors and those displaced as a result of land acquisition, especially under categories ‘C’ and ‘D’.

After continuous agitations by the locals, the NPCIL agreed in 1999 to provide employment under the two categories to the legal heirs of those displaced as a result of the establishment of the plant, he said.

In 2016 an advertisement was published with regard to the recruitment to the post with a total of 56 vacancies. It recruited 95% of the employees from outside the State. The company reneged after assuring at least 50% of the recruitment would be from Kudankulam and nearby villages, he claimed.

At this juncture phase 3 and 4 of the plant was notified. This was followed by a recruitment of about 222 people to the plant from other nuclear plants following an administrative order. Most of those recruited were from outside Tamil Nadu, he said.

More than 1000 employees have been recruited so far by the company and they do not possess genuine nativity certificate. They had fabricated certificates showing to be residents of Kudankulam village, he alleged.

He pointed out that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Mahendragiri, Tirunelveli and Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) had provided employment under preferential scheme to the local people. This was not followed in the case of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, he charged.

He sought a direction for the recruitment of local residents as employees under cadre ‘C’ and ‘D’ and an injunction be granted on the recruitment notification issued towards the same.